Jacaratiá (Wild Papaya)

Deep in the dry forests of the Gran Chaco and the Paraná river basin, jacaratiá has long been treasured by Guaraní and criollo communities across Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Brazil as one of the few fruit trees still bearing food through the harshest dry months. Its swollen, water-storing trunk made it something of a lifeline for travelers and livestock when little else in the forest was green, and the ripe fruit was eaten straight from the tree or simmered slowly into the deep amber preserve still known today as dulce de yacaratiá. The milky latex of the unripe fruit and stem, much like that of its papaya cousin, was traditionally rubbed onto tough cuts of meat to tenderize them, and in some folk traditions was used with great caution as a digestive aid, though its caustic nature meant it was handled carefully and sparingly. Even where it has never been formally cultivated, jacaratiá is remembered fondly as a generous tree that quietly fed people and animals when the dry forest offered almost nothing else.